2.25.2011

Black Water by Joyce Carol Oates


Wow. Joyce Carol Oates knows how to write a novella. I enjoyed every page of Black Water and didn't want it to end - partly because it was so good and partly because Oates reveals the inevitable in the first chapter - our protagonist Kelley is involved in a horrible accident and will die. After meeting a handsome senator at a 4th of July party, Kelley leaves with him to go to his hotel, only to end up at the bottom of a river. The book then teeters between her past and her present - outlining where she came from and what brought her to where she is now. The accident mirrors that of the Chappaquiddick incident - when a young girl was found dead inside of a sunken car driven by Senator Edward Kennedy. In Black Water, Joyce Carol Oates gives Mary Jo Kopechne a voice that utterly heartbreaking and impossible to forget.

Black Water is a powerful book - revealing the human truths of a 26-year-old idealistic young woman and a powerful, untrustworthy older man. The entire novella permeates with a sense of urgency - mostly because it is told in prolepsis - making it (for me) unputdownable.
How crucial for us to rehearse the future, in words. Never to doubt that you will live to utter them.
Black Water was nominated for the 1993 Pulitzer Prize. It highlights themes of fate, vulnerability and the mutability of life. This book is both fascinating and terrifying. I am eager to discover more titles from Joyce Carol Oates.

Black Water was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in fiction in 1993.

Publisher: Penguin, 1992

10 comments:

  1. I hadn't heard of this book before but now I really want to check it out. The plot itself is intriguing and I'm interested to see the parallels between this and the Kennedy incident.

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  2. I love Joyce Carol Oates but haven't read nearly as much of her stuff as I eventually hope to. I'll definitely add this one to my list! Thanks for a great review!

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  3. Joyce Carol Oates is the bomb. One of my favorite female writers. I have not read Black Water, but have no problem believing it's a punch in the teeth. If you can, go on Charlie Rose's web site and dig up his interview with her. It's a beauty to hear her discuss the dramatic potential of Mike Tyson.

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  4. This sounds wonderful. I haven't read Oates in a long time, but I have enjoyed everything of hers I've picked up.

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  5. The plot of this one sounds intriguing - I like that she gives away the ending in the first chapter. I'll be looking out for this one.

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  6. Sounds good. I haven't read much Joyce Carol Oates but I really like the story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" I also have her memoir from NetGalley, but I haven't started it yet.

    Thanks for the review.

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  7. I read this last year and was really impressed. It's such a slim book, but it packs such a powerful punch.

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  8. Re: Pulitzer Prize -- Oates was robbed that year. I'm not sure who won, but she should have won.

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  9. Bybee, You are right. A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain by Robert Olen Butler won in 1993 - I suppose since I've never read it I can't say which is better, but I do think Oates should have won.

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  10. I had the same "wow" feeling from reading (listening) to Joyce Carol Oates' A Fair Maiden. I will definitely put this one on the list, too!

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